CN107484160B

CN107484160B - Data aggregation method and device

Info

Publication number: CN107484160B
Application number: CN201610399494.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 江天明; 高有军
Original assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Communications Ltd Research Institute
Current assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Communications Ltd Research Institute
Priority date: 2016-06-07
Filing date: 2016-06-07
Publication date: 2020-07-03
Anticipated expiration: 2036-06-07
Also published as: CN107484160A

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention discloses a data aggregation method, which comprises the following steps: receiving a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) association message forwarded by user equipment through an Access Point (AP) through a hotspot access switch; determining whether the user equipment is associated to the AP according to the WLAN association message; when the user equipment is determined to be associated with the AP, a service data stream to be sent to the user equipment is divided into two parts, a first part of the service data stream is sent to the user equipment through a Long Term Evolution (LTE) interface, and a second part of the service data stream is sent to the AP through the hotspot access switch. The embodiment of the invention also discloses a data aggregation device.

Description

Data aggregation method and device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to aggregation transmission technologies in the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a data aggregation method and apparatus.

Background

An existing Long Term Evolution (LTE) system works in a license frequency band, and there is no interference of other systems in the working frequency band, but the system needs to be licensed for use, and frequency resources are relatively tight, so that the use cost is relatively high. With the rapid development of the LTE industry, the popularization of terminals and the rapid increase of traffic, a new available frequency band needs to be found in a subsequent LTE system. On the other hand, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) operates in an unlicensed (unlicensed) frequency band, any person can deploy the WLAN network, and the WLAN can support most terminals or communication devices. The LTE + WLAN Aggregation (LWA) technology is proposed in this context, where the LWA is a technology that adopts an unlicensed spectrum in an LTE Network, the WLAN operates in an unlicensed frequency band, the LTE operates in an licensed frequency band, and may be based on a WLAN thin AP architecture, and a system architecture of the LTE Network and the WLAN Network introducing the LWA is shown in fig. 1, where the WLAN Network may include an Access Controller (AC), a convergence device, a hotspot Access switch, an Access Point (AP, Access Point), and the like, the LTE Network may include a service Gateway (SGW, Serving Gateway)/Packet Data Gateway (PGW, Packet Data Network Gateway), an Evolved base station (eNB, Evolved Node B), and the like, and by splitting or aggregating Data transmitted respectively based on the LTE Network and the WLAN Network on a wireless side, on one hand, a peak rate of a terminal may be increased, and on the other hand, when a load congestion occurs in the LTE Network, and the like, and transferring part or all of the services to the WLAN network in time so as to improve the service perception of the user.

In the prior art, an existing network and a terminal need to be modified, and a problem of traffic detour exists, that is, since an AC in an existing network is an anchor point for centralized forwarding of WLAN network data, data sent by an eNB to an AP needs to detour to an AC side and then to be transmitted to the AP, referring to a data channel 2 shown in fig. 1, data sent by an LTE core network device SGW/PGW to the eNB will detour to the AC side of the WLAN network first, and then be forwarded to the AP through the AC, so that the pressure of a transmission link is increased; therefore, the cost of upgrading and reconstructing the existing equipment is higher in the prior art, and the pressure of a transmission link is increased.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, embodiments of the present invention are expected to provide a data aggregation method and apparatus, which can reduce the cost of upgrading and modifying existing devices and avoid the problem of traffic detour while implementing wireless side data aggregation of an LTE network and a WLAN network.

In order to achieve the purpose, the technical scheme of the invention is realized as follows:

the embodiment of the invention provides a data aggregation method, which comprises the following steps:

receiving a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) association message forwarded by user equipment through an Access Point (AP) through a hotspot access switch;

determining whether the user equipment is associated to the AP according to the WLAN association message;

when the user equipment is determined to be associated with the AP, a service data stream to be sent to the user equipment is divided into two parts, a first part of the service data stream is sent to the user equipment through a Long Term Evolution (LTE) interface, and a second part of the service data stream is sent to the AP through the hotspot access switch.

In the foregoing solution, the determining whether the ue is associated with the AP according to the WLAN association message includes:

analyzing the WLAN association message to acquire a source MAC address of the WLAN association message;

judging whether the source MAC address of the WLAN association message is matched with the pre-acquired WLAN MAC address of the user equipment or not to obtain a matching result;

and determining whether the user equipment is associated to the AP or not according to the matching result.

In the foregoing solution, before the receiving the WLAN association message forwarded by the user equipment through the access point AP, the method further includes:

sending a message for instructing the user equipment to perform WLAN network scanning to the user equipment; the message for instructing the user equipment to scan the WLAN network comprises a dedicated Service Set Identifier (SSID) with a hidden attribute, and is used for instructing the user equipment to scan the WLAN network corresponding to the SSID; the AP shields and sends the special SSID with the hidden attribute when sending a beacon message;

receiving a WLAN measurement report sent by the user equipment; wherein the WLAN measurement report includes the Ad hoc SSID;

and when determining that data aggregation is carried out on the service data stream of the user equipment according to the WLAN measurement report, sending an indication message for triggering the user equipment to carry out WLAN association with the WLAN network corresponding to the special SSID to the user equipment.

In the above scheme, the WLAN measurement report includes a WLAN MAC address of the user equipment.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a data aggregation method, which comprises the following steps:

when determining that the WLAN is associated to an Access Point (AP), sending a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) association message to a base station through the AP; wherein the WLAN association message is used for indicating that the user equipment is associated to the AP;

receiving a first part of a service data stream of the user equipment sent by the base station through a Long Term Evolution (LTE) interface; receiving a second part of the service data stream forwarded by the AP through a WLAN interface;

and aggregating the received first part and second part of the service data stream.

In the above aspect, the method further includes:

receiving a message which is sent by the base station and used for indicating the user equipment to carry out WLAN network scanning; the message for instructing the user equipment to scan the WLAN network comprises a dedicated Service Set Identifier (SSID) with a hidden attribute, and is used for instructing the user equipment to scan the WLAN network corresponding to the SSID; the AP shields and sends the special SSID with the hidden attribute when sending a beacon message;

scanning the WLAN network corresponding to the special SSID, and sending a WLAN measurement report to the base station; the WLAN measurement report includes the Ad hoc SSID;

receiving an indication message which is sent by the base station and used for triggering the WLAN network corresponding to the special SSID to carry out WLAN association of the user equipment;

and associating with the WLAN network corresponding to the special SSID according to the indication message.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a data aggregation apparatus, where the apparatus includes:

the first receiving module is used for receiving a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) association message forwarded by user equipment through an Access Point (AP) through a hotspot access switch;

a determining module, configured to determine whether the user equipment is associated with the AP according to the WLAN association message;

a first sending module, configured to, when the determining module determines that the ue is associated with the AP, divide a service data stream to be sent to the ue into two parts, send the first part of the service data stream to the ue through a long term evolution LTE interface, and send the second part of the service data stream to the AP through the hotspot access switch.

In the foregoing solution, the determining module is specifically configured to:

In the above scheme, the first sending module is further configured to send, to the user equipment, a message for instructing the user equipment to perform WLAN network scanning; the message for instructing the user equipment to scan the WLAN network comprises a dedicated Service Set Identifier (SSID) with a hidden attribute, and is used for instructing the user equipment to scan the WLAN network corresponding to the SSID; the AP shields and sends the special SSID with the hidden attribute when sending a beacon message;

the first receiving module is further configured to receive a WLAN measurement report sent by the user equipment; wherein the WLAN measurement report includes the Ad hoc SSID;

the first sending module is further configured to send, to the user equipment, an indication message for triggering the user equipment to perform WLAN association with the WLAN network corresponding to the SSID when determining that data aggregation is performed on the service data stream of the user equipment according to the WLAN measurement report.

a second sending module, configured to send a WLAN association message to a base station through an access point AP when determining that the AP is associated with the AP; wherein the WLAN association message is used for indicating that the user equipment is associated to the AP;

a second receiving module, configured to receive, through a long term evolution LTE interface, a first part of a service data stream of the user equipment sent by the base station; receiving a second part of the service data stream forwarded by the AP through a WLAN interface;

and the aggregation module is used for aggregating the first part and the second part of the received service data stream.

In the above scheme, the second receiving module is further configured to receive a message sent by the base station and used for instructing the user equipment to perform WLAN network scanning; the message for instructing the user equipment to scan the WLAN network comprises a dedicated Service Set Identifier (SSID) with a hidden attribute, and is used for instructing the user equipment to scan the WLAN network corresponding to the SSID; the AP shields and sends the special SSID with the hidden attribute when sending a beacon message;

the second sending module is further configured to scan a WLAN network corresponding to the SSID and send a WLAN measurement report to the base station; the WLAN measurement report includes the Ad hoc SSID;

the second receiving module is further configured to receive an indication message, sent by the base station, for triggering the user equipment to perform WLAN association with the WLAN network corresponding to the dedicated SSID;

the aggregation module is further configured to associate with the WLAN network corresponding to the dedicated SSID according to the indication message.

In the prior art, an existing WLAN network, an LTE network, and a terminal need to be modified, for example, a new Xw interface is introduced between the LTE network and the WLAN network, and a base station determines whether a user equipment is associated with the WLAN network through the Xw interface, and transmits data between the base station and an AP based on the Xw interface; compared with the prior art, the embodiment connects the base station and the AP through the hotspot access switch, when the user equipment determines that the WLAN association message is associated to the AP, the AP transmits the WLAN association message to the hotspot access switch and the hotspot access switch transmits the WLAN association message to the base station, and meanwhile, data between the base station and the AP is also transmitted through the hotspot access switch, so that local transmission between the base station and the AP is realized, the defect of traffic backflow in the prior art is overcome, the AP and AC equipment of the existing WLAN network do not need to be modified (for example, a new Xw interface is introduced), only the eNB and the UE are upgraded, and the cost for upgrading and transforming the existing equipment is reduced.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a prior art LWA-based system architecture;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a system architecture based on LWA techniques in an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is an alternative flow chart of the data aggregation method according to the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic flow chart of another alternative data aggregation method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of yet another alternative data aggregation method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a shunting path on the base station side according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a offloading path on a user equipment side according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a schematic flow chart of yet another alternative data aggregation method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is an alternative flow chart of the data aggregation apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a schematic flow chart of another alternative data aggregation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The technical scheme described in the embodiment of the invention can be used for realizing the wireless side data aggregation of the LTE network and the WLAN network, and in various embodiments of the invention: receiving a WLAN association message forwarded by a User Equipment (UE) through an AP; the base station is connected with the AP through a hotspot access switch; determining whether the user equipment is associated to the AP or not according to the WLAN association message; when determining that the user equipment is associated with the AP, dividing a service data stream to be sent to the user equipment into two parts, sending a first part of the service data stream to an LTE interface of the user equipment through an LTE interface of a base station, forwarding a second part of the service data stream to the AP through a hotspot access switch, and forwarding the second part of the service data stream to a WLAN interface of the user equipment through the WLAN interface of the AP, so that the user equipment aggregates the first part of the service data stream received through the LTE interface of the user equipment and the second part of the service data stream received through the WLAN interface of the user equipment. The technical scheme recorded in the embodiment of the invention can help overcome the defects of higher upgrading and modifying cost of the existing equipment and large pressure of a transmission link in the prior art.

Exemplary network Environment

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a system architecture based on the LWA technology in the embodiment of the present invention, which may be suitable for implementing the technical solution described in the embodiment of the present invention; referring to fig. 2, a WLAN network may include an AC, a convergence device, a hotspot access switch, at least one AP; the LTE network can comprise SGW/PGW and eNB; the user device may be a smart phone, a tablet computer, a wearable device (e.g., smart glasses, smart watches), etc.

It should be noted that, different from the system architecture based on the LWA technology in the prior art shown in fig. 1, in the system architecture based on the LWA technology of the embodiment of the present invention, an eNB on the LTE network side is connected to an AP of a WLAN network through a hotspot access switch, referring to fig. 2, the AP is configured with a plurality of Service Set Identifiers (SSIDs), one of the SSIDs is an LWA-specific SSID, such as SSID2 in fig. 2, SSID2 is only used for transmitting an LWA packet between a base station and a UE, an attribute of SSID2 is Set to be hidden, and the UE cannot actively scan and discover the WLAN network corresponding to SSID2, that is, the UE cannot detect the WLAN network corresponding to SSID2 by receiving a WLAN Beacon (Beacon) frame broadcasted by the AP and including an SSID value; and meanwhile, the AP configures the information of the LWA special SSID to the eNB side so that the eNB informs the UE of the information of the LWA special SSID when the eNB issues measurement control to the UE. Configuring an eNB to be connected with a hotspot access switch, and setting the MAC address of a transmission interface used by the eNB to connect with the hotspot access switch and the MAC address of a transmission interface used by an AP to connect with the hotspot access switch to belong to the same Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN), such as VLAN 2; in fig. 2, the data path of SSID2 is eNB-AP-UE, and the data path of SSID 1 is AC-AP-UE.

The system architecture shown in fig. 2 is merely an example of one possible architecture of a network in which the techniques disclosed in embodiments of the invention may be embodied, other network architectures may include devices that are not shown in fig. 2, and the various devices may be interconnected in a different architecture than that shown in fig. 2.

The technical solution in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and the embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention.

Example one

The embodiment describes a data aggregation method, which can be used for realizing wireless side data aggregation of an LTE network and a WLAN network, and overcomes the defects of high cost for upgrading and modifying existing equipment and high pressure on transmission links in the prior art.

Referring to fig. 3, the data aggregation method described in this embodiment includes the following steps:

step 101, receiving, by a hotspot access switch, a WLAN association message forwarded by a user equipment through an AP.

The execution subject of this embodiment may be a base station; one possible implementation is for the base station to establish a connection with the AP through the hotspot access switch. The base station may be a home base station ((H) eNB), a macro base station, or the like, where the system architecture shown in fig. 2 illustrates an optional scheme that the base station and the AP are connected through a hotspot access switch by taking the base station as the eNB, specifically, the eNB is configured to connect with the hotspot access switch, and the MAC address of the transmission interface used by the eNB to connect with the hotspot access switch and the MAC address of the transmission interface used by the AP to connect with the hotspot access switch are set to belong to the same VLAN.

Step 102, determining whether the user equipment is associated to the AP or not according to the WLAN association message; if yes, go to step 103; otherwise, the flow ends.

The implementation manner of the base station determining whether the user equipment is associated to the AP according to the WLAN association message may include: the base station analyzes the WLAN association message and acquires a source MAC address of the WLAN association message; judging whether the source MAC address of the WLAN association message is matched with the pre-acquired WLAN MAC address of the user equipment or not to obtain a matching result; and determining whether the user equipment is associated to the AP or not according to the matching result.

Here, one possible implementation manner for determining whether the ue is associated with the AP according to the matching result is as follows: and when the base station determines that the source MAC address of the indication message is matched with the WLAN MAC address of the user equipment acquired in advance according to the matching result, determining whether the user equipment is associated with the AP or not.

Step 103, when it is determined that the user equipment is associated with the AP, dividing a service data stream to be sent to the user equipment into two parts, sending a first part of the service data stream to the user equipment through the LTE interface, and sending a second part of the service data stream to the AP through the hotspot access switch.

Here, when it is determined that the user equipment is associated with the AP, a service data stream to be sent to the user equipment is divided into two parts, a first part of the service data stream is sent to an LTE interface of the user equipment through an LTE interface of the base station, and a second part of the service data stream is forwarded to the AP through the hotspot access switch and forwarded to a WLAN interface of the user equipment through the WLAN interface of the AP; the user equipment aggregates a first portion of a traffic data stream received via an LTE interface of the user equipment and a second portion of the traffic data stream received via a WLAN interface of the user equipment.

Here, the traffic data stream of the user equipment may include user data and/or control signaling.

On the basis of the above embodiment, before receiving the WLAN association message forwarded by the user equipment through the AP, the base station sends, to the user equipment, an indication message for triggering the user equipment to associate to the AP, and the specific implementation manner may be any of the following:

mode 1: a base station sends a message for indicating the user equipment to scan the WLAN to the user equipment; the message for instructing the user equipment to scan the WLAN network comprises a special SSID with a hidden attribute, and is used for instructing the user equipment to scan the WLAN network corresponding to the special SSID; the AP shields and sends the special SSID with the hidden attribute when sending the beacon message; the base station is used for connecting the MAC address of the transmission interface of the hotspot access switch and the MAC address of the transmission interface of the AP used for connecting the hotspot access switch belong to the same VLAN;

the method comprises the steps that user equipment receives a message which is sent by a base station and used for indicating the user equipment to carry out WLAN network scanning; the user equipment scans the WLAN network corresponding to the special SSID and sends a WLAN measurement report to the base station; the WLAN measurement report comprises a special SSID and a WLAN MAC address of the user equipment;

a base station receives a WLAN measurement report sent by user equipment; when determining that data aggregation is carried out on the service data stream of the user equipment according to the WLAN measurement report, sending an indication message for triggering the user equipment to carry out WLAN association with a WLAN network corresponding to the special SSID to the user equipment;

the method comprises the steps that user equipment receives an indication message which is sent by a base station and used for triggering the user equipment to carry out WLAN association with a WLAN network corresponding to a special SSID; and associating with the WLAN network corresponding to the special SSID according to the indication message.

Mode 2: unlike the method 1 in which the SSID with the hidden attribute is set and the user equipment is instructed to scan the WLAN network corresponding to the SSID, the method 2 in which the SSID with the hidden attribute is not set: the method specifically comprises the following steps:

a base station sends a message for indicating the user equipment to scan the WLAN to the user equipment;

after WLAN network scanning is carried out on user equipment, a WLAN measurement report is sent to a base station;

and when the base station determines to carry out data aggregation on the service data stream of the user equipment according to the WLAN measurement report, the base station sends a message for triggering the user equipment to carry out WLAN association to the user equipment.

Example two

Corresponding to the first embodiment, the present embodiment describes a data aggregation method, which can be used to implement wireless side data aggregation of an LTE network and a WLAN network, and overcome the defects of high cost for upgrading and modifying existing devices and high pressure on transmission links in the prior art.

The execution subject of the embodiment may be a user equipment; referring to fig. 4, the data aggregation method described in this embodiment includes the following steps:

step 201, when determining that the WLAN association message is associated to the AP, sending a WLAN association message to a base station through the AP; wherein the WLAN association message is used to indicate that the user equipment has associated to the AP.

Step 202, receiving a first part of a service data stream of user equipment sent by a base station through an LTE interface; and receiving a second portion of the traffic data stream forwarded by the AP over the WLAN interface.

Here, specifically, a first part of a traffic data stream of the user equipment, which is transmitted by the base station through the LTE interface of the base station, is received via the LTE interface of the user equipment; and receiving a second part of the service data stream, which is forwarded to the AP by the base station through the hotspot access switch and is forwarded through the WLAN interface of the AP, through the WLAN interface of the user equipment.

Step 203, aggregating the first part and the second part of the received service data stream.

Compared with the existing LWA implementation scheme that the existing WLAN network, the existing LTE network and the existing terminal need to be modified, the base station and the AP are connected through the hotspot access switch, the base station forwards data to be sent to the AP through the hotspot access switch, the data does not need to firstly detour to the AC side of the WLAN network and then is transmitted to the AP, the pressure of a transmission link can be reduced, the problem of traffic detour is avoided, meanwhile, the AP and AC equipment of the existing WLAN network do not need to be modified, only the eNB and the UE are upgraded, and the upgrading and modifying cost of the existing equipment is reduced.

EXAMPLE III

Based on the foregoing embodiment, the present embodiment explains how the base station determines that the ue is associated with the WLAN network corresponding to the SSID; the implementation of the embodiment depends on the cooperation of the user equipment, the base station, the hotspot access switch and the AP; in this embodiment, it is assumed that the AP has an Association (Association) processing function at the WLAN bottom layer, that is, the AP may not forward the AP to the AC or the eNB any more, and the AP may complete responding to an Authentication Request (Authentication Request) and an Association Request (Association Request) sent in the process of associating the ue with the WLAN.

Referring to fig. 2 and 5, the data aggregation method described in this embodiment includes the following steps:

step 301, the ue sends a terminal capability message to the base station, indicating whether the ue supports the LWA function.

Step 302, when determining that the user equipment supports the LWA function according to the terminal capability message, the base station sends an RRC connection reconfiguration message (i.e. a message instructing the user equipment to scan the WLAN network) to the user equipment, and instructs the user equipment to scan the WLAN network; the RRC connection reconfiguration message includes a dedicated SSID with a hidden attribute.

Step 303, when the user equipment receives the RRC connection reconfiguration message, the user equipment scans the WLAN network corresponding to the SSID.

Step 304, the user equipment sends a WLAN measurement report to the base station; the WLAN measurement report comprises the WLAN mac address of the user equipment; the invention expands the measurement report reported by the user equipment. The newly added content in the measurement report reported by the user equipment is as follows: here, a specific measurement report message is taken as an example to describe the newly added content in the measurement report reported by the ue, where the specific example is as follows:

measurement report message

Here, the WLAN measurement report may further include an ad hoc SSID.

Step 305, when determining that the LWA function configured for the user equipment (data aggregation for the traffic data stream of the user equipment) is satisfied according to the WLAN measurement report, the base station sends an RRC connection reconfiguration message (i.e., an indication message for triggering the user equipment to perform WLAN association with the WLAN network corresponding to the SSID) to trigger the UE to associate with the WLAN network.

Step 306, the user equipment sends an authentication request/association request to the AP, and the AP completes responding to the authentication request/association request sent by the user equipment, and completes WLAN association between the user equipment and the WLAN network corresponding to the SSID.

Step 307, after the user equipment associates with the AP, the user equipment sends a base station discovery (eNB discover) packet (i.e. the WLAN association message) through the WLAN system, and forwards the packet to the base station through the AP.

Step 308, the base station determines whether a WLAN link is established according to the source MAC address of the discover packet of the base station (i.e. the base station determines whether the user equipment is associated with the AP according to the WLAN association message); and if the source MAC address of the message is determined to be matched with the WLAN MAC address of the user equipment, which is included in the WLAN measurement report sent by the user equipment, the base station determines that the user equipment is associated to the AP.

After the base station judges that the UE is associated to the WLAN network corresponding to the special SSID of the AP, the base station divides a service data stream to be sent to the user equipment into two parts:

step 309a, the base station sends the first part of the service data stream to an LTE interface of the user equipment through the LTE interface of the base station;

step 309b, the base station forwards the second part of the service data stream to the AP through the hotspot access switch, and forwards the second part of the service data stream to a WLAN interface of the user equipment through the WLAN interface of the AP; for a second portion of the traffic data flow: the base station may aggregate the LWA data packets at the PDCP layer, add the ethernet MAC header after the PDCP data packet header, where the destination MAC address is the UE WLAN MAC address, and send the data packets to the AP, see the shunt path based on the PDCP layer shunt technology in this embodiment shown in fig. 6; the base station forwards the second part of the service data stream to the AP through the hotspot access switch, and the source address added by the AP for the data packets is the MAC address of the transmission interface of the AP; the AP is connected with the hotspot access switch through the transmission interface; the AP forwards the data packet to the user equipment through the WLAN interface.

Referring to the offloading path of the ue in this embodiment shown in fig. 7, the ue determines a data packet received via the WLAN interface of the ue through an AP MAC address corresponding to the SSID (i.e., a MAC address of the AP used to connect to the transmission interface of the hotspot access switch), and aggregates the data packet with the specific MAC address and the data packet of the LTE; specifically, the user equipment receives a first part of a service data stream of the user equipment, which is sent by a base station through an LTE interface of the base station, through the LTE interface of the user equipment; receiving a second part of the service data stream which is forwarded by the base station through the hotspot access switch to the AP and through the WLAN interface of the AP through the WLAN interface of the user equipment; and aggregating the first part and the second part of the received service data stream.

The embodiment is mainly based on the method that the WLAN side hides the SSID, the local forwarding between the AP and the eNB and the MAC address is adopted to identify the UE, so that the wireless side data aggregation of the LTE and the WLAN network is realized, the influence on the transformation of the existing WLAN network is reduced as much as possible, and the problem of traffic roundabout is avoided.

In the embodiment, the LTE network judges the association condition of the UE in the WLAN network through the WLAN MAC address; the base station and the user equipment perform data plane aggregation and transmission through the WLAN MAC address, an AP and AC equipment of the existing WLAN network do not need to be modified, and the introduction of the LWA function can be completed only through the upgrading of the eNB and the new UE function.

Example four

Based on the foregoing embodiment, the present embodiment explains how the base station determines that the ue is associated with the WLAN network corresponding to the SSID; the implementation of the embodiment depends on the cooperation of the user equipment, the base station, the hotspot access switch and the AP; the present embodiment assumes that the AP does not have the association processing function of the WLAN bottom layer, that is, the AP only transparently passes through the data packet of the UE passing through the WLAN network, and the authentication request/association request sent by the UE on the WLAN network will also be forwarded to the eNB or AC.

Referring to fig. 2 and 8, the data aggregation method described in this embodiment includes the following steps:

step 401, the ue sends a terminal capability message to the base station to indicate whether the ue supports the LWA function.

Step 402, when the base station determines that the user equipment supports the LWA function according to the terminal capability message, the base station sends an RRC connection reconfiguration message (i.e. a message instructing the user equipment to scan the WLAN network) to the user equipment, and instructs the user equipment to scan the WLAN network; the RRC connection reconfiguration message includes a dedicated SSID with a hidden attribute.

In step 403, when the user equipment receives the RRC connection reconfiguration message, the user equipment scans the WLAN network corresponding to the SSID.

Step 404, the user equipment sends a WLAN measurement report to the base station; the WLAN measurement report includes the WLAN mac address of the user equipment.

Here, the WLAN measurement report may further include an ad hoc SSID.

Step 405, when determining that it is satisfied to configure the LWA function for the user equipment (performing data aggregation on a service data stream of the user equipment) according to the WLAN measurement report, the base station sends an RRC connection reconfiguration message (i.e., an indication message for triggering the user equipment to perform WLAN association with a WLAN network corresponding to the SSID) to trigger the UE to associate with the WLAN network.

The user equipment sends (to the AP) an authentication request/association request over the WLAN network, step 406, and is forwarded by the AP to the base station.

Here, the authentication request/association request is the above-mentioned WLAN association message.

Step 407, the base station determines whether the WLAN link is established according to the source MAC address of the authentication request/association request (i.e. the base station determines whether the user equipment is associated to the AP according to the WLAN association message); and if the source MAC address of the message is determined to be matched with the WLAN MAC address of the user equipment, which is included in the WLAN measurement report sent by the user equipment, the base station determines that the user equipment is associated to the AP.

Step 408, the base station responds to the authentication request/association request of the user equipment to complete the WLAN association between the user equipment and the WLAN network corresponding to the special SSID.

The base station divides the service data flow to be sent to the user equipment into two parts:

step 409a, sending the first part of the service data stream to an LTE interface of the user equipment through the LTE interface of the base station;

step 409b, forwarding the second part of the service data stream to the AP via the hotspot access switch, and forwarding to the WLAN interface of the user equipment through the WLAN interface of the AP.

The method comprises the steps that the user equipment receives a first part of a service data stream of the user equipment, which is sent by a base station through an LTE interface of the base station, through the LTE interface of the user equipment; receiving a second part of the service data stream which is forwarded by the base station through the hotspot access switch to the AP and through the WLAN interface of the AP through the WLAN interface of the user equipment; and aggregating the first part and the second part of the received service data stream.

EXAMPLE five

In correspondence with the description of the first embodiment, this embodiment further describes a data aggregation apparatus, which may be used to execute the data aggregation method of the first embodiment of the present invention, and the data aggregation apparatus may be implemented in various manners, for example, components of the data aggregation apparatus are implemented in a base station, and components of the data aggregation apparatus may also be implemented in a coupled manner on the base station side; referring to fig. 9, the data aggregation apparatus includes:

a first receiving module 501, configured to receive, through a hotspot access switch, a WLAN association message forwarded by a user equipment through an AP;

a determining module 502, configured to determine whether the ue is associated with the AP according to the WLAN association message;

a first sending module 503, configured to, when the determining module determines that the user equipment is associated with the AP, divide a service data stream to be sent to the user equipment into two parts, send a first part of the service data stream to the user equipment through an LTE interface, and send a second part of the service data stream to the AP through a hotspot access switch.

On the basis of the foregoing embodiment, the determining module 502 is specifically configured to:

analyzing the WLAN association message to obtain a source MAC address of the WLAN association message;

On the basis of the foregoing embodiment, the first sending module 503 is further configured to send, to the user equipment, a message for instructing the user equipment to perform WLAN network scanning; the message for instructing the user equipment to scan the WLAN network comprises a special SSID with a hidden attribute, and is used for instructing the user equipment to scan the WLAN network corresponding to the special SSID; the AP shields and sends the special SSID with the hidden attribute when sending the beacon message; optionally, the MAC address of the base station for connecting the transmission interface of the hotspot access switch and the MAC address of the AP for connecting the transmission interface of the hotspot access switch belong to the same VLAN;

a first receiving module 501, configured to receive a WLAN measurement report sent by a user equipment; wherein the WLAN measurement report comprises an Ad hoc SSID;

the first sending module 503 is further configured to send, to the user equipment, an indication message for triggering the user equipment to perform WLAN association with the WLAN network corresponding to the SSID when determining that data aggregation is performed on the service data stream of the user equipment according to the WLAN measurement report.

On the basis of the above embodiment, the WLAN measurement report includes the WLAN MAC address of the user equipment.

Compared with the prior art, the embodiment connects the base station and the AP through the hotspot access switch, when the user equipment determines that the WLAN association message is associated to the AP, the AP transmits the WLAN association message to the hotspot access switch and the hotspot access switch transmits the WLAN association message to the base station, and meanwhile, data between the base station and the AP is also transmitted through the hotspot access switch, so that local transmission between the base station and the AP is realized, the defect of traffic backflow in the prior art is overcome, the AP and AC equipment of the existing WLAN network do not need to be modified (for example, a new Xw interface is introduced), only the eNB and the UE are upgraded, and the cost for upgrading and transforming the existing equipment is reduced.

In practical applications, the first receiving module 501, the determining module 502, and the first sending module 503 may be implemented by a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Microprocessor (MPU), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), or a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), etc. located in the base station.

EXAMPLE six

Corresponding to the description of the second embodiment, this embodiment further describes a data aggregation apparatus, which may be used to execute the data aggregation method of the second embodiment of the present invention, where the data aggregation apparatus may be implemented in various manners, for example, components of the data aggregation apparatus are implemented in the user equipment, and components of the data aggregation apparatus may also be implemented in a coupled manner on the user equipment side; referring to fig. 10, the data aggregation apparatus includes:

a second sending module 601, configured to send a WLAN association message to the base station through the AP when determining that the WLAN association message is associated to the AP; wherein the WLAN association message is used for indicating that the user equipment is associated to the AP; optionally, the base station and the AP are connected through a hotspot access switch;

a second receiving module 602, configured to receive, through a long term evolution LTE interface, a first part of a service data stream of a user equipment, where the first part is sent by a base station; receiving a second part of the service data flow forwarded by the AP through the WLAN interface;

an aggregating module 603, configured to aggregate the first part and the second part of the received service data stream.

On the basis of the foregoing embodiment, the second receiving module 602 is further configured to receive a message sent by the base station and used for instructing the user equipment to perform WLAN network scanning; the message for instructing the user equipment to scan the WLAN network comprises a special SSID with a hidden attribute, and is used for instructing the user equipment to scan the WLAN network corresponding to the special SSID; the AP shields and sends the special SSID with the hidden attribute when sending the beacon message;

the second sending module 601 is further configured to scan a WLAN network corresponding to the dedicated SSID and send a WLAN measurement report to the base station; the WLAN measurement report includes the ad hoc SSID;

a second receiving module 602, further configured to receive an indication message sent by the base station and used to trigger the user equipment to perform WLAN association with a WLAN network corresponding to the dedicated SSID;

the aggregation module 603 is further configured to associate with the WLAN network corresponding to the dedicated SSID according to the indication message.

In practical applications, the second sending module 601, the second receiving module 602, and the aggregation module 603 may be implemented by a CPU, an MPU, an ASIC, or an FPGA located in the user equipment.

EXAMPLE seven

This embodiment describes a computer-readable medium, which may be a ROM (e.g., read-only memory, FLASH memory, transfer device, etc.), a magnetic storage medium (e.g., magnetic tape, disk drive, etc.), an optical storage medium (e.g., CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, paper card, paper tape, etc.), and other well-known types of program memory; the computer-readable medium has stored therein computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a WLAN association message forwarded by user equipment through an AP (access point) through a hotspot access switch;

determining whether the user equipment is associated to the AP or not according to the WLAN association message;

when determining that the user equipment is associated with the AP, dividing a service data stream to be sent to the user equipment into two parts, sending a first part of the service data stream to the user equipment through an LTE interface, and sending a second part of the service data stream to the AP through a hotspot access switch.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, embodiments of the present invention may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of a hardware embodiment, a software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present invention is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for data aggregation, the method comprising:

analyzing the WLAN association message, and acquiring a source Media Access Control (MAC) address of the WLAN association message;

determining whether the user equipment is associated to the AP or not according to the matching result;

when the user equipment is determined to be associated to the AP, dividing a service data stream to be sent to the user equipment into two parts, sending a first part of the service data stream to the user equipment through a Long Term Evolution (LTE) interface, sending a second part of the service data stream to the AP through the hotspot access switch and forwarding the second part of the service data stream to the user equipment through the AP;

and the first part and the second part of the service data stream are used for aggregation after being received by the user equipment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein before receiving the WLAN association message forwarded by the ue through the AP, the method further comprises:

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the WLAN measurement report comprises a WLAN MAC address of the user equipment.

4. A method for data aggregation, the method comprising:

when determining that the WLAN is associated to an Access Point (AP), sending a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) association message to a base station through the AP; wherein the WLAN association message is used for indicating that the user equipment is associated to the AP; wherein the sending of the WLAN association message to the base station by the AP comprises the AP forwarding the WLAN association message to the base station by a hotspot access switch;

receiving a first part of a service data stream of the user equipment sent by the base station through a Long Term Evolution (LTE) interface; receiving a second part of the service data stream forwarded by the AP through a WLAN interface; wherein the second part of the traffic data stream is sent by the base station to the AP through the hotspot access switch;

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the WLAN measurement report comprises a WLAN MAC address of the user equipment.

7. A data aggregation apparatus, characterized in that the apparatus comprises:

a determining module, configured to parse the WLAN association message, and obtain a source media access control MAC address of the WLAN association message; judging whether the source MAC address of the WLAN association message is matched with the pre-acquired WLAN MAC address of the user equipment or not to obtain a matching result; determining whether the user equipment is associated to the AP or not according to the matching result;

a first sending module, configured to, when the determining module determines that the ue is associated with the AP, divide a service data stream to be sent to the ue into two parts, send the first part of the service data stream to the ue through a long term evolution LTE interface, and send the second part of the service data stream to the AP through the hotspot access switch and forward the second part of the service data stream to the ue through the AP; and the first part and the second part of the service data stream are used for aggregation after being received by the user equipment.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the first sending module is further configured to send a message to the UE instructing the UE to perform WLAN network scanning; the message for instructing the user equipment to scan the WLAN network comprises a dedicated Service Set Identifier (SSID) with a hidden attribute, and is used for instructing the user equipment to scan the WLAN network corresponding to the SSID; the AP shields and sends the special SSID with the hidden attribute when sending a beacon message;

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the WLAN measurement report comprises a WLAN MAC address of the user equipment.

10. A data aggregation apparatus, characterized in that the apparatus comprises:

a second sending module, configured to send a WLAN association message to a base station through an access point AP when determining that the AP is associated with the AP; wherein the WLAN association message is used for indicating that the user equipment is associated to the AP; wherein the sending of the WLAN association message to the base station by the AP comprises the AP forwarding the WLAN association message to the base station by a hotspot access switch;

a second receiving module, configured to receive, through a long term evolution LTE interface, a first part of a service data stream of the user equipment sent by the base station; receiving a second part of the service data stream forwarded by the AP through a WLAN interface; wherein the second part of the traffic data stream is sent by the base station to the AP through the hotspot access switch;

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the second receiving module is further configured to receive a message sent by the base station to instruct the ue to perform WLAN network scanning; the message for instructing the user equipment to scan the WLAN network comprises a dedicated Service Set Identifier (SSID) with a hidden attribute, and is used for instructing the user equipment to scan the WLAN network corresponding to the SSID; the AP shields and sends the special SSID with the hidden attribute when sending a beacon message;

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the WLAN measurement report comprises a WLAN MAC address of the user equipment.